​Vergeet koekhappen, de grabbelton, plak tatoeages, blikken gooien of oude meuk verkopen; een tankstation openen op een kleedje is dit jaar dé manier om eens flink te cashen op Koningsdag.

Vraag eens aan je ouders of buurman of ze ergens nog een groot olievat in een schuurtje hebben staan en raffineer dat tot diesel of benzine met een flink vuur en een mondkapje. Het enige wat je dan nog ergens op de kop moet tikken is een pompzuil, een tankpistool, een brandstofslang, een leuk kleedje en een stuk karton om de prijs op te schrijven. Ga met een mooie drie euro per liter net ietsjes boven de prijs zitten en binnen lopen maar!

Als je nog wat extra wilt bijverdienen, kan je nog wat bosjes foeilelijke bloemen, shag of een broodje bal verkopen. Veel succes en vergeet niet waarvoor je het doet: een middagje naast de pomp en je kan de rest van het jaar gratis bier tanken!

​

&

The horror of sports lessons put three in 10 of British 50 to 65-year-olds off exercise for life. I wish I’d known sooner that movement can feel so good

Surprising news: three in 10 50- to 65-year-olds in a recent Age UK survey said school sports memories had put them off exercise “for life”. Only three in 10? When it comes to exercise, there are surely two kinds of people – the handful who enjoyed school PE lessons and everyone else.

I’m guessing the first category are out smashing their marathon PBs, meaning we indoor sorts can safely share war stories. Mine: forced to walk half an hour to the sports field in the tiny synthetic pleated skirt that was mysteriously designated mandatory sportswear, heckled by local perverts and youths shouting “jolly hockey sticks”, then skulking, motionless, in the mud, avoiding various projectiles while being shouted at by the sporty girls and contemplated with bafflement by (mostly benign) PE teachers.

Continue reading...

I suspect the main reason they avoid criticizing Israel is that they believe that would be antisemitic. But this is both dangerous and wrong

In an extraordinary article published on 7 April, the New York Times described how Donald Trump decided to go to war with Iran. It is highly unusual for the White House Situation Room to be used for in-person meetings with foreign leaders. But this time, the Situation Room was not just used for a meeting with a foreign leader. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin, Netanyahu took over the presentation space, backed on a screen by the leader of the Mossad as well as Israeli military officials.

As the New York Times describes the scene, “Arrayed visually behind Mr. Netanyahu, they created the image of a wartime leader surrounded by his team.” The article makes it clear that Netanyahu’s “hard sell” of a quick war was pivotal to the US president’s decision to partner with Israel in attacking Iran.

Continue reading...

Viktor Nordenskiöld’s film follows Ukraine’s deputy minister Olha Stefanishyna as she negotiates her country’s path into the EU, but lacks some of the rigour needed

After the Russian invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian deputy minister Olha Stefanishyna embarked on the herculean challenge of steering her country’s pathway into the European Union. Shot over the course of two years, Viktor Nordenskiöld’s documentary portrait closely chronicles her race against time, as the war escalates.

Always on the move, Stefanishyna is often seen on trains or in the back of cars, as she and her staff attend seemingly endless meetings with EU officials and other world leaders. Working towards the deadline of 14 December, 2023, the date on which the European Council would decide on Ukraine’s accession, Stefanishyna is under immense pressure at home and abroad. Around the same time that a proposed bill concerning national minorities hits a snag in the Ukrainian parliament, politician Viktor Orbán, then the prime minister of Hungary, publicly voices his opposition to the enlargement of the EU.

Continue reading...

After Donald Trump’s second election, I realised the insidious hold my phone had over my life. So I turned to something I’d loved in childhood to better occupy my attention

After a long day of looking at screens for work, I used to go to bed and stare at my phone until I fell asleep. When not doomscrolling news headlines, I’d crash out to hateful comments on social media or revisit workplace dramas via mobile versions of Teams and Slack. I was always plugged in.

It was a ritual that would start well before bedtime. As the evening wound down, I’d surf algorithms for hours on end, barely paying attention to whatever television programme was on in the background, only half-listening to conversations around me. Whether it was the incessantly dystopian news cycle, toxic opinions on pop culture, or posts railing against obtuse LinkedIn speak, there was always another online scab to pick.

Continue reading...

Rightwing Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid announce new party before Knesset vote expected later this year

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing the prospect of running against a rightwing-centrist super coalition in elections later this year after two of his most formidable political rivals combined forces in an attempt to oust him, inviting a third party leader to join them.

In a move that some analysts compared to the centre-right coalition that removed Viktor Orbán from power in Hungary, the former prime ministers – rightwing Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid – issued statements announcing the merger of their parties, Bennett 2026 and Yesh Atid (There is a Future).

Continue reading...

US president says there’s ‘no reason to meet’ Tehran unless they agree never to have nuclear weapons

Welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.

Donald Trump has said Iran can telephone if it wants to negotiate an end to the war and that it must agree never to have a nuclear weapon, while Pakistan’s leaders have sought to revive the stalled peace talks between Washington and Tehran.

Iran gave the US a new proposal on reopening the strait and ending the war, with nuclear negotiations postponed for a later stage, according to the news site Axios. The US state department and White House did not immediately comment on the Sunday report, which cited an unnamed US official and two sources.

Araghchi’s talks with Pakistani officials on Sunday had included “implementing a new legal regime over the strait of Hormuz, receiving compensation, guaranteeing no renewed military aggression by warmongers and lifting the naval blockade”, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency. In the talks with Omani leader Haitham bin Tariq al-Said, Araghchi called for a regional security framework free of outside interference.

Araghchi would meet with Putin “in continuation of the diplomatic jihad to advance the country’s interests and amid external threats”, Iran’s envoy in Russia, Kazem Jalali, said on X.

Two US air force C-17s carrying security staff, equipment and vehicles used to protect US officials flew out of Pakistan after the latest diplomatic trip was called off, two Pakistani government sources told Reuters on Sunday.

Continue reading...

Critical week for global economy as banks expected to issue warnings over conflict driving up prices

• Business live – latest updates

The world’s most powerful central banks are poised to hold borrowing costs unchanged this week amid growing concerns over the unfolding inflation shock from the Iran war.

In a critical week for the global economy, each of the central banks in the G7 are expected to issue warnings over the risks from the Middle East war driving up prices for households and businesses.

Continue reading...

The Raconteurs

The Raconteurs

The Raconteurs

The Raconteurs

The Raconteurs

The Raconteurs

The Raconteurs

BertvB posted a photo:

Public stock exchanges "appear to be warming to climate tech startups," reports TechCrunch. "Or at least some of them."

This week, nuclear startup X-energy went public, raising $1 billion in an upsized share offering that appears to have delivered a windfall for its investors, including Amazon [and Google]. Retail investors apparently can't get enough, with the stock popping 25% in its first hour of trading. Also this week, geothermal startup Fervo said it filed for an initial public offering. The size of the Fervo IPO has yet to be disclosed, but private investors have valued the company at around $3 billion, according to PitchBook.


The move to go public aligns with what investors told TechCrunch at the end of last year. After years of tepid attitudes toward climate tech companies, they expected public markets to start welcoming energy-related startups. Nearly every investor that weighed in on the question said the startups with the best chances of going public specialize in either nuclear fission or enhanced geothermal. Fervo, specifically, was mentioned several times. Thank data centers for that. The AI craze has taken a trend of rising demand for electricity and made it sexy and salable.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Word je ouder dan gemiddeld? Dan heb je misschien niet alleen goede genen, maar ook betere eetgewoonten meegekregen. Dat blijkt uit een nieuwe studie van Tufts University. Onderzoekers keken naar de kinderen van mensen die 100 jaar of ouder werden en ontdekten dat zij gemiddeld iets gezonder eten dan anderen.

De studie maakt deel uit van de grootschalige New England Centenarian Study. Al sinds 1995 worden hiervoor honderdjarigen en hun families gevolgd. De kinderen van deze ‘superoudjes’ zijn inmiddels zelf vaak in de 80 of 90.

Meer vis, minder zout

Wat eten ze dan anders? Volgens de onderzoekers kiezen deze kinderen vaker voor vis, groenten en fruit. Tegelijkertijd eten ze minder suiker en vooral minder zout. Geen revolutionaire inzichten, maar wel opvallend: deze relatief kleine verschillen lijken samen te hangen met een lager risico op beroertes, dementie en hartziekten. “Voeding is een factor waar je zelf invloed op hebt”, zegt onderzoeker Erfei Zhao. “Het kan bepalen hoe lang én hoe gezond je leeft.”

Dat genetica een rol speelt bij een lang leven is bekend, mogelijk tot zo’n 50 procent. Maar de omgeving is minstens zo belangrijk. “We zien dat gedrag, zoals eetpatronen, de voordelen van goede genen kan versterken.”

Opvallend: opleiding en inkomen spelen ook een grote rol. Mensen met een hogere opleiding eten gezonder, ongeacht hun afkomst. Het verschil tussen kinderen van 100-jarigen en anderen verdwijnt grotendeels als beide groepen hoogopgeleid zijn.

Nog werk aan de winkel

Toch eet ook deze ‘bevoorrechte’ groep niet perfect. Zowel zij als de controlegroep halen vaak niet de aanbevolen hoeveelheden volkorenproducten en peulvruchten zoals bonen en linzen.

Volgens onderzoeker Andres V. Ardisson Korat moet gezond eten toegankelijker worden: “Niet iedereen groeit op met deze voedingspatronen. We moeten zorgen dat gezonde keuzes betaalbaar en makkelijk zijn.”

Het uiteindelijke doel? Niet alleen langer leven, maar vooral gezonder ouder worden. Dus minder jaren in slechte gezondheid en een kortere periode van achteruitgang aan het eind van het leven.

Bron: Phys.org

UK’s data watchdog confirms its boss has been off the job since February while an HR investigation runs

The UK's data watchdog is without its chief after John Edwards stepped aside from the Information Commissioner's Office while an independent workplace investigation examines unspecified HR matters.…